#Nikandros is SUFFERING

[bookwyrminspiration]

Nikandros is god's strongest soldier. every day he's like King, my dearest and oldest friend, can i please defend your honor. and Damen goes No I'm In Toxic Gay Love

[lucky-clover-gazette]

damen & laurent's soldiers need worker's compensation for dealing with their angsty petty gay bullshit. i present the following evidence:

exhibit a:

He had put those soldiers on the door to bar the way to those men seeking Laurent out for some trivial matter, or for any matter, because when Laurent wanted to be alone, no one should suffer the consequences of interrupting him.  The taller soldier addressed him. ‘Commander, no one has entered in your absence.’ Damen’s eyes passed over the doors again.  ‘Good,’ he said. And he pushed the doors open.

‘Arrest me,’ said Damen. ‘I have raised hands to the Prince.’  The soldiers hesitated. It was the just response to his actions but he was—or had been—their Captain. He had to say again, ‘Do it.’  The darker-haired soldier stepped forward and Damen felt the grip take him. Laurent set his jaw.  ‘No,’ said Laurent. And then, ‘It was provoked.’ 

exhibit b:

A part of Damen’s mind recognised how perfectly this gift had been judged, the exquisite virtuosity of it: Laurent was delivering him a backhanded blow with one hand, and with the other, caressing his generals as a man scratches a dog under the chin.  Damen heard himself say, ‘Vere is generous.’  ‘After all,’ Laurent held his gaze, ‘I remember what you like.’

exhibit c:

He gestured and one of his squires came forward. It was still wrapped in cloth. He felt the sudden tension in Laurent, though there was no outward change.  Damen said, ‘You asked for it, once.’  The squire drew back the cloth to reveal a gold cuff. He felt rather than saw the tightness in Laurent. The cuff, unmistakably, was the twin to the one Damen wore, altered last night by a blacksmith for Laurent’s finer wrist.  Damen said, ‘Wear it for me.’ For a moment he thought Laurent wasn’t going to do it. But in public, Laurent had no recourse to refusal.  Laurent extended his hand. And then waited, palm outstretched, his eyes lifting to meet Damen’s.  Laurent said, ‘Put it on me.’  Every pair of eyes in the tent was on him.

exhibit d (lmao):

‘Who did this to you?’  ‘I did,’ Laurent said.  Damen turned.  Laurent stood in the entryway of the tent. He was arranged with elegant grace and his lazy, blue-eyed attention was all on Nikandros.  Laurent said, ‘I meant to kill him, but my uncle wouldn’t let me.’  Nikandros took an impotent step forward but Damen already had a restraining hand on his arm. Nikandros’s hand had gone to the hilt of his sword. His eyes were on Laurent furiously.  Laurent said, ‘He sucked my cock too.’  Nikandros said, ‘Exalted, I beg permission to challenge the Prince of Vere to a duel of honour for the insult that he has done to you.’  ‘Denied,’ said Damen. 

[ultimatelyre]

CAPRI brothers-centric ficrec part III

but first, have some silly memes

💌 - fav $ - smut (minors DNI) !! - check tags

AUGUST centric

wrapped around his finger💌 - And just like that, Laurent made his way into their friendship, thanks to his pretty eyes and Damen’s too big heart

the gift 💌- Auguste’s world was as large as a baby’s crib and as big as those tiny eyes

chasing the light - the entire series is a delight to read

Five times august shut down damen 💌 - protective big bro august, need i say more?

Big bro breakdown - august is not homophobic (he insists)

Dont touch your brother's friends !! 💌 - i REALLY like the fucked up dynamics in this one.

Damianos' visit to Arles - everything by @mfingenius honestly

pets and princes - damen mistakes laurent to be auguste's pet and nik suffers as usual

the councils decision 💌- a minute of jokaste simping over auguste GIRL SAME

Like me !!💌- if you think you're ready for this level of angst, you arent. angst almost no comfort but hopeful ending so you've been warned. I really liked the writing and the execution of this, hurts your heart

tricks of the trade - smaurent and only FLUFF

my brother's lover !! - one in which august has an actual life out of damen and laurent (mostly i mean)

Caught 💌- laurent schemes, damen falls in love, Auguste watches & sighs

hockey players damen and auguste

fix-its! - a time of peace & counterclockwise & call for peace & heard it in a past life

Take a slice !! 💌 & its not bad - damen and august solidarity ;)

stained shirts and dance lessons - if you were wondering where the FRATboys!damen & auguste AU at, here it is

miles of distance series - things work out, they don't kill each other

i'd take every blow 💌- auguste finds out.

of soulmates books and spilled guac - soulmate AU slay tbr

and ask no leave of thee !! - fairy AU tbr

the white dove - a man who looks exactly like auguste appears after canon tbr

ive got soul - auguste wakes up ten years after marlas tbr

downsides of being an older brother & downsides of having a teenage baby brother - tbr

NICAISE centric

to be imperfect !!💌- the future shines a shade brighter because one boy learns to forgive himself, Laurent kisses the top of that curly head of hair. all of @peppermintfeather's works make you feel warm inside

and times are changing & for wisdom 💌- he grows to be the wise advisor to the kings (my favs out of this beautiful series)

To share your love 💌!! this post was not just an excuse to include this author's works lmao

the monster inside him 💌!!- contains mpreg but i was surprised into liking it

Hand in unlovable hand - nicaise is like "absolutely not" when these idiots break up and proceeds to be a king

marks of a life well lived - gotta say warrior nic is a good look

A night on the town - nicaise babysits for lamen (big bro nicaise aww)

memory - AUS in which august adopts nicaise>>, a fun read!

HR! im complaining about your boyfriend! - workplace AU

as good as - he told me i'd never be as good as you (aka f*** the regent #238)

put aside childish things - laurent letting nicaise be a child again is everything to me

safe up here with you💌 - nic gets his own love story (had be giggling and kicking my feet too fun to read)

home is where the heart is - laurent comforting nicaise aftermath

many doors and windows - damen convinces nicaise to train

red & when the bough breaks - nicaise killing the regent drabbles cause hey, merry christmas aye?

trees change in the fall - modern AU, they adopt nicaise

NIKANDROS centric

first impressions 💌- The first time he hears Laurent laugh, Nikandros thinks he has gone mad. the third time he cant help but join in

nik doesnt get paid enough for this - self explanatory

anything for you $ - fine, i'll TRY to not kill your best friend because you're my husband and ily...i guess

non, je ne regrette rien $ !!💌 - this has a poly rlnship pls give it a try its amazing<3

on friendship - he remembers seeing Laurent, and thinking quite clearly, Oh no

five times lamen caused an international incident - nik: deep sigh

this one or not at all - proposals proposals

wont thy be my neighbour 💌- "I’m in love" “........You just met him.”

safe travels !! - read tags, nikandros & laurent time

how nik came to love laurent of vere 💌

whoever gets closest - LMAO

the man drives a motorbike damen! - mother hen nik

naked, afraid and married - modern AU reality TV

MISC (some have aug/nik as main ship)

paramedic AU or would they go on aching still - nik changes his opinion of blond ppl keeping score -!! multichapter found fam vibes a call to motion - jealousy jealousyyy cultural differences cause miscommunication between lamen - short and funny

⭐ part I (popular ones) 💼part II (workplace AU)🫂part III (Auguste lives & Nicaise lives)🦾part IV (rare pairs)

and if you see your fic in this and want to be tagged lmk!

[bibinibikkkkk]

A rant/confession about Captive Prince -someone send help.

I've been in a state of denial for the past 2 months. But I can't take it anymore. I can't believe I let the fandom DESTROY my relationship with Capri! The fandom simply made me HATE several characters. The craziest thing is that they're characters that DON'T EVEN APPEAR or have a MINIMAL participation. Especially Erasmus, Nikandros and Auguste. But what's really hurting me is that I'm hating that damn DAMIANOS.

And yes, actually when I say that "it's the fandom's fault" I know that it's actually MY fault. Because I OBVIOUSLY believe that everyone has the right to imagine and write whatever they want on the Internet and that people should be able to filter what they consume. But apparently I'm a MOTHERFUCKER who became so obsessed with Capri that I had to consume absolutely every piece of media/fanfic written about Lamen and I got screwed.

I'm really feeling miserable. I spent the last year breathing Capri, seeing everything related to Lamen made me so happy. I can't say when or what exactly changed, but in the last 2 months I can't see Lamen with the same eyes anymore, they've brought more pain than happiness.

Especially Damen, damn, I HATE him!

I just want to put Laurent in my pocket and run away with him.

This kind of interpretation of Damen has always existed, but I think it's gotten worse lately or maybe I'm just out of patience. But damn, I've only seen two types of "Damen" being written: either he's just a dumb bitch OR he's a dumb bitch with feelings and that's why he's put on a pedestal where he's considered a God who doesn't make mistakes, but he's still a dumb bitch. And then in the middle there's Laurent SUFFERING from love for A DUMB BITCH. This breaks me so much. I can't take it anymore.

I tried to reread the original books and all I wanted to do was tell Laurent, "My love, leave that man, you're just needy and surprised that he was the first one who had the courage to interact with you. But soon you'll find a much better man than that." AND I HATE MYSELF FOR IT. I was IN LOVE with Damen… in reality, at first I didn't even like Laurent very much and now everything is wrong. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like Damen is like a jerk ex-boyfriend who cheated on me multiple times. But he has a goofy puppy face, a cute smile, and everyone likes him, so even though I'm the cuckold, everyone is on his side. AND I WAS SO IN LOVE WITH HIM!

I really hate myself. If anyone has any idea of ​​what I can do to stop this HORRIBLE feeling, I'll accept it. I'm stopping consuming everything related to Capri. I'm just going to finish reading the only fanfics I can still stand… but that's it. Maybe I'm not cut out to live in a fandom environment.

And no, I'm not an unemployed person with nothing to do. In fact, I'm quite busy, I'm just very intense with my hyperfocus.

[kybelles]

egeria lives au where she meets laurent at the beginning of kings rising

read on ao3

~

The first thing he notices is how youthful she looks.

If he has his numbers right (and he does, he does) she should be close to sixty. Yet, lounging on her divan while two bulky male slaves fan her with giant leaves, Queen Egeria doesn’t look a day older than forty.

She is also one of the most beautiful women he’s ever seen.

Her emotionless hazel eyes follow him like a cat as he comes closer. She doesn’t look like a woman who was held captive by Kastor and only recently got rescued by Nikandros at all. Inside her regal purple dress and with golden laurels in her hair, she looks every bit like the queen she is.

When he stands right in front of her, Laurent bows his head just the appropriate amount. From a prince to a queen. “Madam,” he says. “I was advised to come and greet you.”

The words are spoken in Veretian and he doesn’t use the correct title for queen in Akielon either. His words also imply he wouldn’t appear before her if it wasn’t for the insistence of his advisors.

He is the perfect picture of insolence. And what’s the point of impressing Egeria of Akielos now, anyway? Laurent has already burned down that ship. Burned and spread the ashes to the wind.

The queen’s catlike gaze doesn’t waver. Slowly, she looks at him from head to toe. “Laurent of Vere,” she says in a perfectly clear Akielon. “We heard you kept our son as a slave. That you beat him, whipped him, humiliated him in numerous ways.”

An icy shiver runs down on Laurent’s spine but his face remains neutral. As always. “I’m not sure what madam wants me to say. Would you like me to give you a detailed narrative?”

Rather than getting irritated, Egeria of Akielos slowly smiles. Laurent’s hand subtly clenches into a fist behind him when he sees a familiar dimple on her cheek.

“A sharp tongue,” she says in a terribly soft voice. “A vicious persona and a face that looks like it was carved by angels. No wonder my son was besotted with you.”

The implication that Damen was only interested in him because Laurent happened to match his tastes is so infuriating, so hurtful that it renders Laurent speechless. Egeria doesn’t seem bothered by his silence.

“I bet you wanted revenge for what happened,” she continues in the same softness. Her pronouns have changed from we to I. From queen to mother. “I bet you thought your treatment of him was justified. You thought he deserved it. You enjoyed making him miserable and watching him suffer. Men like you always find pleasantries in the most honorless practices.”

Men like him.

Men like his uncle. Men like Kastor.

His voice is nothing but a deadly whisper. “He killed my brother.”

“Princely blood, shed at war.” Egeria takes a small sip from her goblet. “If you had a shred of my son’s dignity, you would have faced him fairly, prince to prince.”

Something finally snaps in Laurent as a smile spreads on his face. “But Damianos wasn’t sent to me as a prince, was he?” he says, his soft tone matching Egeria’s. “He was kept in a cage like a wild animal, flung at my feet like he was the lowest creature ever existed… By your stepson, in case madam needs a reminder. I wonder what she was doing while her son was slowly surrendered by traitors.”

For a moment, he thinks he has won. Egeria’s fingers that are wrapped around her goblet tighten for a few painful seconds before she chuckles, waving him away as if he’s merely a misbehaving boy.

The treatment is so familiar that his mouth fills with bitter poison.

“We have no interest in explaining ourself to you.” she speaks serenely, her beautiful chin raised pridefully. “Dire circumstances force us to keep up this grotesque misalliance with Vere but beyond that, we don’t wish to endure your company more than it is necessary. Know that and act accordingly.”

Suddenly, Laurent is hit with the most unwelcome urge to cry. Even after the recent events, he can’t remember the last time he felt this small and insignificant.

His wounded shoulder throbs. His trampled pride gets another brunt, even though he didn’t think it was possible.

He recalls a few brief anecdotes Damen has told about his loving, fierce lioness of a mother. Desperately, even though he knows he has no right, he aches to see a glimpse of her, instead of this woman who looks at him with such great contempt.

“Madam doesn’t need to worry.” he finally says. “After the war is done, I shall go back to my country and I doubt we’ll ever encounter each other again.”

“After the war is done, you may go to hell for all we care.” Egeria says boldly. “Now, leave.”

[winmance]

When Our Children Fell in Love (AO3 Link)

Additional Tags:

Alpha Damen (Captive Prince)Omega Laurent (Captive Prince)Alpha/Beta/Omega DynamicsProtective ParentsPost-Canonthey're getting oldBut together so it's cutePOV Nikandros (Captive Prince)Nikandros is not having a good timeIn-Laws

Summary:

Laurent and Damen have eleven children and Nikandros loves each of them deeply.

But out of the eleven, there is this one child, the spitting image of Laurent, that Nikandros always had trouble trusting for he looks too much like Laurent.

Of course, it is the one Nikandros' child decides to take as a spouse.

Sorry below 👇

There’s nothing but silence inside the Kings’ room. Damen and Laurent are seated next to each other on the edge of their bed, Damen’s hand resting on his husband’s back. Nikandros is sitting in front of them, on the chair they use to write down at their desk.

To their right, their sons, standing hand in hand.

“Damianos,” Nikandros calls his son. “What is this about?”

“We’re in love and asking for your approval.”

“We’re not asking, actually,” Lauri says.

Lauri is holding his head high and proud, his blue eyes showing no emotion. He’s the fourth child of Laurent and Damen, one of the only two omegas of eleven children, and yet he has the pride of Auguste, their Alpha Heir.

Out of the eleven, he’s also the one that looks the most like Laurent: the same hair, same eyes, same attitude. Only his skin is a bit darker, but he’s still paler than the others. Nikandros had doubts Damen was the father, for a moment. He suggested it once and it was the only time he had been afraid of his best friend, for Damen’s anger had been so strong that he saw himself dead already.

Now that the boy is older, there is no doubt Damen is his father. Yes, he looks more like Laurent, but he also has many shared traits with Damen.

Nikandros’ boy, Damianos, has his head down. He’s an alpha and looks like one: his muscles are showing, he already has the beginning of a beard and he’s as tall as Nikandros himself. Yet - Yet his boy has always been so nice. So obeying. Of course, he would fall for his exact opposite. It had surprised Nikandros when his son presented as an Alpha.

“Are you forcing us, then?” Laurent asks.

He finds the situation funny, Nikandros can tell.

“Of course not Papa. But if you say no, we will be eloping tonight and mate in the same hour.”

There’s a laugh, then, coming from Damen, and Nikandros can’t do anything but stare as his best friend loses his mind.

“You have ten siblings. Your fathers are Kings. My sweet boy, you won’t even have time to think about escaping!”

Like his carbon copy, Lauri frowns the same way Laurent would have, if he didn’t think the situation was so funny. Nikandros doesn’t feel like laughing. In fact, he very much feels like crying. He only has two sons and he was hoping that they would have, like himself, a lovely marriage, with someone who resembled them. Don’t get him wrong, he loves Lauri. He is, after all, one of Damen’s children, one of his nephews. He would even go as far as saying that he doesn’t mind Laurent that much anymore. But enough for his son to marry his younger version? No. Absolutely not. He had secretly hoped Damianos would have fallen in love with Niklaus, one of the sweetest of the eleven children, but no. He had to go for Lauri. History is repeating itself and Nikandros can’t do anything but watch and suffer in silence.

“I love him,” Damianos says, then. His voice is strong this time and even Nikandros is surprised by it. “Please. I’ll honor him. He will be cherished and loved for the rest of his life. Uncles, have I not proven to you time and time again that I’m worthy?”

“You did, Damianos,” Laurent says. He’s sweet, like when he talks to his little ones. “But life isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’re both still very young.”

“We’re not children anymore, Papa.”

He means it innocently, Nikandros can tell, but just like his father, Lauri’s face is becoming warmer the more he realizes the implication behind his words. Laurent and Damen do, too, and the smiles that were on their faces slowly disappeared. Nikandros is very close to slapping his own son.

“Tell me you’re not that stupid Damianos,” he begs.

“It was only once, I swear Dad.”

“You were intimate together?” Laurent yells. “Lauri! What were you thinking?”

Lauri, whose face is now as red as a tomato, doesn’t drop his gaze. He looks just as proud as before, if not more. Damen’s eyes are fixed on Damianos.

“Please, like you and Dad waited until you were married. Don’t be a hypocrite, Papa.”

Something amazing happened then, that Nikandros would remember until the end of his life: Laurent stayed quiet. He didn’t answer back, having been defeated and his mistakes put into light.

“You are supposed to be smart, Lauri,” Damen says. “But now all I’m seeing is that you’re far too immature to be marrying anyone.”

Lauri wants to respond but then Damen is up, and they all know that once the King is standing, the discussion is over. It doesn’t matter that the two boys now have tears in their eyes; Damen is done with the conversation, and so it is all over.

“Nik, my friend, I need a drink,” then to Laurent. “My love, I’ll give you the pleasure of explaining to those boys the danger of sex outside marriage.”

He doesn’t wait for an answer and doesn’t look back at the boys either. It’s not the first time Nikandros sees his friend being strict with his children. He’s raising them with more love than his father did, but he’s still firm with them. It doesn’t come as a surprise; with that many alphas, and his two only omegas' children acting like alphas themselves, he needs to set boundaries and show them who the leader is.

With their drinks in hand, Nikandros closes his eyes and tries to take it all in. He wonders if, perhaps, he had anger at a God, in this life or another, to deserve such punishment. Lauri is as beautiful as Laurent, maybe even more. He talks like him, too, destroying everyone that doesn’t agree with him.

“How many times have we dreamed of it?” Damen says, suddenly. “Our children marrying each other! Isn’t that great?”

“They’re getting married?”

“Obviously! I just wanted to scare them a little but I mean, when we were their age, we were having more sex than there are hours in a day!”

It seems like yesterday. It seems like a lifetime ago.

“They’re young.”

“Yes, but they’re in love. Sure, we both married late, but I can see that they love each other. We already started getting offers for Lauri, you know.”

For some reason, this makes Nikandros’ blood boil. Lauri is still a boy, and he’s certainly not for sales.

“From who?”

“Nobles, everywhere. We only have two omegas, so of course they think we want to get rid of them. I’ll let you imagine how Laurent welcomed them.”

Yes, he can imagine.

“So it’s done, then.”

“Yes! But I’m not forgetting my other nephew, if that’s what troubles you. I was thinking that our Agape could marry your oldest, what do you think? They get along fine and I’m suspecting that their romance is already booming.”

“Agape is lovely,” Nikandros says, which is true. He’s an alpha, while his son is a beta, and he knows that they would form a lovely couple. He can see the way they look at each other, too, the little smiles they share when they think no one is looking. Yes, he could see them together. Agape is lovely, and unlike Lauri, he has never made one of his teachers cry. He has never thrown shit to a noble’s face, too.

“You don’t seem happy.”

“I do not wish for you to take it the wrong way.”

Damen frowns and crosses his arms around his chest. He’s past fifty now, yet he’s still as much in shape as he was when he was twenty. Only his gray hair and the wrinkles that are forming on his forehead are giving his real age away.

“Tell me.”

“It’s just… You have eleven children. He could have chosen any of them, but he had to choose him.”

“What’s wrong with Lauri?”

“He’s… I’m afraid he’s not the right fit for my son, that’s all. I wanted him to be… With someone different.”

“That’s my son you’re talking about,” Damen’s tone is one that Nikandros only heard a few times but knows too well: firm and strong, it’s the voice of a King warning his friend not to cross the line.

“I love all your children. This one simply looks too much like his father.”

“He does,” Damen says with a smile. “He has every quality Laurent has and more. He’s the best version of Laurent, for he was protected and loved from the moment he was conceived.”

“But is he nice? Will he loves him? I don’t want my son to have his heart broken, Damen.”

“He has a heart pure of gold. Is he a bit mischievous? Yes, and I suspect that’s exactly what your son loves about him. He’s good. My children are all good, Nik.”

“I believe you.”

Before his wife died, he had promised her that he would take care of their sons and their happiness. They had a short but loving marriage together, and he wants the exact same thing for his sons. He knows it's useless to try and change Damianos' mind. Just like his Uncles', he would be ready to defeat a whole kingdom out of love.

Damen lowers his drink, then, and forces Nikandros to look at him. His expression his serious, and so Nikandros listens.

“I swore to Laurent that I would protect them from everything and everyone. I love your son like you love mine. But tell me: will Damianos protect Lauri? Will he fight and die for him, not the way an alpha would, but the way a husband would. Not by duty, but by love.”

Damianos knows love. Just like Lauri, he's been surrounded by love since his birth. His son is precious and he raised him to be a good Alpha, yes, but also a good man.

“Yes. He will.”

Then Damen claps his back, so hard that Nikandros almost knocks his drink over.

“It is decided then.”

“Don’t you need his Majesty Laurent's approval?”

“No, Laurent had planned for both your sons to marry our children since before they were conceived. Plus, he always seemed to think that Lauri and Damianos would be a good match. Seems like he was right.”

Of course, once again, Laurent’s mastermind is behind Nikandros’ pain. He wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’s the one who put both boys together, somehow.

“So just like that? It’s done?”

“Well, your son deflowered my son. I personally don’t care much, but Laurent will be asking for either a wedding or a funeral.”

“A wedding, then.”

They drink some more while Nikandros tries to come to terms with the fact that his bloodline will not only have Veterian’s blood, but Laurent’s blood, and that his grandchildren will look just like Laurent. It’s fine. He can deal with it.

When they come back to the room, Laurent, Lauri, and Damianos are still there, only they seem to be at ease, too. Once they’ve broken the news, Damianos can’t stop smiling and Lauri goes to hug his Dad. He’s sweet, just like Laurent, and Nikandros knows that it’s exactly where the danger is.

“ Auguste will be mad. Lauri is his favorite one,” Laurent says, a smile on his face.

“We have Auguste’s approval. I wouldn’t have done it if he had said no.”

“So your brother's words are more important than mine?”

“Yes?”

“Have you told him that you two slept together? Or should I break the news?”

“Papa! Please don’t! Auguste would kill him!”

Before the situation can escape any further, Damen is letting go of his son with one last kiss to his head, and welcoming his husband into his arms. The two blondes keep looking at each other, but there’s no trace of anger, only amusement in their eyes.

“I’m a bit sad,” Damen says. “Our children are now getting married and that means that we can’t have more.“

“Dad! There are eleven of us. Eleven! Elina is barely two. Your fifty-one. Stop having children already!”

“Is that a challenge?” Laurent asks. “Because I love challenges.”

“I love challenges too.”

And then they’re kissing, which means that Nikandros exits the room before he has to witness more of their disgusting affection. Damianos follows quickly, holding Lauri’s hand in his. He lets go, then, and goes his own way, leaving the two of them alone.

Lauri may look like Laurent, but there’s no denying that he looks like his father, too. He has Damen’s dimple. His lips and smile. He looks like both his fathers, now that Nikandros is taking the time to look at him.

“Uncle Nik, I love him. I’ll take care of him, I promise. I know… I know I’m not the one you wished for, but I’ll prove myself to you. You’ll love me more than you love Papa.”

Lauri’s eyes may be a cold shade of blue, but he has the same warmth in them that Laurent has when looking at his children or his husband. Nikandros thinks, then, that he wishes nothing more for his son but to be loved by someone capable of loving like Laurent. He will get used to him, the same way he got used to Laurent.

[seasonsofcapri]

New Fic: if only to dream of you

Title: if only to dream of you

Ship: Damen/Laurent 

Creator: nv-md (AO3) 

Rating: Explicit

Word count : 2,441 words

Warnings/Tags: Canon Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, one kingdom, Grief/Mourning, Bathing/Washing, Literal Sleeping Together, Fluff, Explicit Sexual Content, Established Relationship, Minor Illness, Auguste Lives (Captive Prince), But Everything Else Is Canon

Prompt #: 15: "a week before their first fall/winter festival in which their kingdoms are united, laurent falls ill. it shouldn't be life-threatening or so the physicians say but it's a stubborn infection that has laurent bed-ridden and weak. the night of the inauguration of the festival, damen stays by laurent's side instead, leaving nikandros or someone else to take care of it. laurent thinks he's being dramatic, but when damen closes his eyes he can only see his father fading away. he's afraid, and laurent can tell. cue laurent inviting him to join him in bed or smth and fall asleep with him listening to his hearbeat, reassuring him that he won't leave him anytime soon. damen, for the first time in the past week, sleeps soundly."

Summary: "During negotiations with the Vaskians and Patrans, Laurent falls ill and Damen must leave him to lead their newly-forged kingdom.

After a week of quiet suffering, Damen returns to their bedchambers and attends his husband."

Read it here on Ao3!

Don’t forget to kudos and comment to show our wonderful creators your love!

[goldencuffs]

wait wait wait you wrote a captive prince fic that you deleted???? (I was stalking your replied and saw the anon reply to your ao3 lore and you said you delete the first fic you wrote for cp fandom( i cant believe there was a fic you wrote that I have not read Im gonna go cry ina corner rn,,…. Plspls tell me you still have it🥺 what was the premise sorry im so nosyhdjdj

hahahaha yes i had a fic, a very bad fic, that was only up for maybeeee 24 hours??? tbh i dont even remember but it was gone QUICK 😭😭😭

i dont have the fic anymore but TRUST me she was awful!!! it was my first time writing anything remotely creative (and fanfic in general) and it SUCKED

the premise was that laurent and damen are very handsy when drunk and nikandros suffers through it. and it was nikandros pov!!!

[xnikandrosx]

Eivor's memory loss, at times, was a blessing to this world. If the prismatic remembered his life before in its complete, unblemished entirety, then there was nothing that would have stopped the dragon from laying waste to everything in his path. Nikandros, while tempered, didn't have the luxury of forgetting. What was once a gentle scholar and steward of wisdom had become - well - what Nikandros stood for today.

Imagination was on the long list of things that had broken off from this world with the Cataclysm. This was a world without dreamers and from witch to elvhen their understanding of spirits and the nature of this world and tel'aran'rhiod was beyond lacking. Nikandros had been an educator once but those days had long since passed, still - something irked him because while Casimir blundered, the spirits trapped in his chest only continued to suffer.

Whatever had softened about Nikandros's voice or features managed to stiffen once more as the Inquisitor remembered himself. He thought briefly of Nylathria and the disappointment there, he resented the implication that the creatures Casimir had captured benefitted from this forced arrangement in the slightest - whatever the dhampir's intentions he wanted control, and control was what he'd been given. "No. They have the prison you made for them, you took the rest." He huffed out a laugh but there was a dry hollowness to it, what followed was a challenge, "Convince me otherwise." Wisdom would relish the chance to be proven wrong, but as of yet in the decade since he'd been in this time, pride had yet to be.

Casimir had reflected on that swift moment within the abyssal lodge ever since such very night had passed. He'd been confused, unsure, whatever the shade had reflected and regurgitated back to him had been commanded by what Casimir had constructed in his own subconscious. He'd watched as the chairs fell away, until only one for him to reign above them had remained in place; where once it could have been a table to delegate together and empower one another through it, Casimir had chosen a different path, carved from fear even though he'd not known it at the time.

It was easy to stand above someone when one was unsure there'd be a chance to work together. Confidently, blindly, he'd chosen this because Casimir had not seen no other way. Furrowed brows and a conflicted expression drifted up to face Nikandros; what the dhampir was met with was something uncharacteristically soft, something filled with dread and a fragment of... disappointment. Casimir lingered in his silence; it ebbed on something of a regretful understanding of what Nikandros could be but met the brick wall that was the impossibility of the very situation. His mind was something he was ever grateful for, but even now it willed a reason that the witch standing before him couldn't possibly be of an infernal affliction, even if all signs pointed to that being the only such way.

"I didn't imagine that there was any other way," disbelief clouded his tone, but for a moment, it seemed as though there was a flicker of pain which washed over Nikandros, palpable grief and mourning. "They have my strengths, and I, theirs," though that could not be true within their subjugation, could it? Whatever strengths were mirrored were simply by what he had taken, not what he had shared and through all his studies of demons, he never once figured to empathize with them.

[lostdrarryfics]

hi! i read this fic recently it’s in ao3 it’s a one shot and basically it’s a eighth year fic where pansy pushes Draco into harry every time they are near each other in the halls. it’s a 5+1 fic theme. pansy tells Ron and draco gets mad and gets detention.

thank u in advance!!

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[incorrectcaptiveprince]

Damen: Nikandros, you're my best friend.

Nikandros: Best friend? BEST friend?! Bitch, I'm your only friend.

Nikandros: I'M THE ONLY ONE CAPABLE OF TOLERATING YOUR DUMB ASS!

[youaretrue]

[freydis-freydat]

Hazel eyes shifted to take in his profile to try and determine if the word was meant to mock her or if he truly thought her to be so. Her hands sunk below the moonlit surface of the water to wrap around herself, nails digging crescents into the skin of her waist where they rest. “It’s a vocation,” she responded quietly, as if his singular word response had been an admonishment. Freydis didn’t know how else to verbalize the drive she felt in the very essence of her being. She was quiet as he described the likely fate of Iskaldrik and the spread of Aetheron’s threat, their false guise as liberators in an effort to gain pawns and advance their war game. She looked at him when he used the title, and even Freydis didn’t know in truth if she would say it was a formal or current title. “It’s a useful status still,” she argued quietly, though he likely understood by now how much she would like to abandon the honorific. “Or… in some places it can be. Perhaps not Lysara, I benefited us little there aside from being a source of humiliation.” The sting of that truth had become smaller over time, and she still stood in the conviction she’d angrily vocalized that evening: they were not the type of people she wished to be impressive to. A hand lifted from the water to cradle his tilted head, her thumb gently stroking the plane of his cheek. “Do you enjoy it?” she asked of the unlikely affection that had developed between them. But she withdrew her hand after a moment. “Would you have an easy time of that? Of not defending me if tonight I decided to ask you not to?” 

Silently, she committed Nikandros’ true name to memory. She had learned before that there was power in the knowledge of a demon’s true name, but she had no intention of harming Nikandros and fewer intentions of risking his ire. Part of her considered that the less she knew about Nik, the safer things might be. Another piece of her appreciated that Eivor was willing to disclose as much as he did. The greater sum of her resented Aetheron for tearing the dragon from the veil so violently and completely. “Not yet,” she tried to encourage him, but she did not know what else to say, how else to comfort him. After she said it, she resolved to do everything she could to ensure it was not an empty statement. Freydis wanted to find the smile he offered her as a comfort, and to a small degree, it was. But her expression did not begin and end at mere worry, the corners of her mouth and the shining of her eyes also carried fear. “But not impossible.” 

Eivor asserted a valid point: it might be safer for any escaped dragons across the board the keep their distance. But the Aetheron also knew they were something to be feared, took pains to strip them of power, to separate them all, they saw the threat that lived in their combined, full power. Why else would they be so covetous of them and go to such lengths to control them? But this was not the time to argue this point with Eivor, especially given she did not believe one of them was in the right and that the other was in the wrong. “You don’t have to be either of those things here,” she told him quietly. She looked nervous as she responded: “They brought out a dragon–the one who spoke was named Anthin, and they claimed the dragon with them was their daughter, Tiamat. The one who took the king.” Freydis didn’t miss him. “But another dragon, a blighted one, came from who knows where… That was the one we killed.” She supposed there was no real way to know if Tiamat suffered similar servitude to Eivor if his memories were too compromised to be relied on. Her nose wrinkled and she turned away from the splash but regret it somewhat to miss the sight of a smile. “Tragically, I’m a liberated woman and I do as a please,” she pouted back at him, primarily because she used his phrasing against him. But she was quiet for a moment after he spoke again, thinking of Iskaldrik, thinking of the proving ground of a holmgang’s fighting ring, and the unyielding line of challengers. “I’m not used to the opportunity… privilege… of picking my battles,” she admitted after a few moments. She suspected Eivor may not know precisely what she meant, but that he would be able to relate. And she wasn't an unending well of stamina; she was exhausted. “I want to fight to see the world set right again… From the Aetherian… From the Darkspawn. From what we did in Iskaldrik.” And Ormir had expectations of her. Aurea had asked her to lead under her banner. The voice from the Feywilds had called to her. Fharzai had beseeched her from the dream world. “I fight for the people I love.”

"Noble," Eivor murmured after a moment, though he didn't wish to diminish Freydis' words of inspiration. She seemed very set on her beliefs, having only seen a small part of Aetheron's power and destruction. "Even if Aetheron took over Iskaldrik, they freed everyone in the mines. Not out of the goodness of their hearts, but those who were set free might have seen it a different way." Eivor had considered this before, that former captives of Iskaldrik could've easily joined Aetheron – spilling secrets, knowledge. In fact, Eivor was certain of it. "You speak like you're still a Jarl." It was mostly said to poke fun, but he could hear the tonal differences, the structure of how she pieced together everything she wished to say. Eivor couldn't relate. He said what he felt in the moment, a luxury he'd never had before. Affection – she'd brought up the word, and perhaps that was what Eivor could attach such a feeling to. "It was not just affection," he finally said, tilting his head. "Kinship. Friendship. That affection came after." But he wasn't a noble person, not like Freydis. It was anger that drove his steps. "But if you wish to defend me, then I would ask you to not."

"Yes, like the veil. The world of spirits." He remembered it fondly, perhaps one of the few things that could soften the hardened look in Eivor's blue eyes. The dragon couldn't reach such a place anymore, no matter how hard he tried. "It's where I bonded myself to Zaknafein. You know him as Nikandros, but Nik is who carries him, now. I knew them both, love them both, yet still, even in their presence, I cannot reach this place. Not anymore," his voice got quieter, a solace that he couldn't put into words gone from his grasp. At times, he thought he felt glimpses of it within Freydis' cabin, but it was so new, the dragon wasn't sure if it was just his desperation bleeding into his new connection with the veilmaiden. Eivor remained silent for a few moments, but he gave a half smile, despite her worry, "I am hard to kill, Freydis."

"Find the rest? And ruin how they have kept themselves hidden? No. It would be worse for me to do that." Eivor knew he was the one who stuck out. He'd known there were others, but keeping such captive animals together would've only fueled a larger desire to leave. "If they wish to find me, I believe they could. Most of my memories within the Archon's home are...unreliable. Violent. I was a prize, not a participant." Freydis spoke of the three, but once again, the dragon wished he had a better grip on what he knew. Yet she trailed off, some sort of realization hitting her, and Eivor was no mind reader, "What did they bring out?" He snorted slightly at her final idea, splashing water at her with a small, cocky grin, "You were right in understanding that I will decline." He used her formal word instead of a lazy one, as he would do. Despite his words, his expression was semi-relaxed, "You have to fight for what you want, not take on the world's problems. Or you will never get a chance to live a quiet life."

[whitewitch95]

Capri prompt

Laurent being a judge in The Voice, he’s that kind of intimidating but incredibly talented musician who relies on clear voices, a good tone range, and the unique something. He is the guy who watches in unmoved disbelief every time his co jurors break into tears when someone performs an especially touching song, and he is the one whose praise has much more value than the other’s because he gives it so rarely.

Laurent loves music more than anything (besides Auguste and Nicaise maybe), otherwise it wouldn’t be his career of choice, but he likes to think of himself as more of a professional than Kashel for example, one of the jurors who is very openly affectionate, cries a lot, and cheers like a child when she likes the performance.

He picks his singers very carefully, creating the perfect mix of human beings with the right voices, after all he wants to win. It’s the game he likes.

Then one day, in the blind auditions, the music begins to play, and the voice that starts to sing crawls under his skin, makes the hair raise on his arms, enraptures him entirely. The man‘s voice is a rich bass-baritone, and so warm and emotional, it touches his heart. He misses no tone, voice unwavering and confident.

Almost on their own accord his hands push that buzzer, his chair turns,- and he sees him.

That gentle giant, who should be intimidating because of his sheer size, but looks so confusingly soft with his dark curls and closed eyes, as he sings about a broken heart, an ex lover who walked away without looking back, tossing everything they had in the wind and left him alone in the ashes of what once was.

With mortification Laurent realizes that he has a lump in his throat, and tries to gulp it away, but with no success.

When the song is finally over, all of his co jurors have buzzered, too, without him even noticing, and when he invites him in his team, he feels an irrational fear that this man would refuse him, would choose another one.

But when the man introduces himself - Damianos - his eyes find Laurent‘s as if there hadn’t been any choice in the first place, and when he beams at him, it’s like the sun has graced them with her presence.

Shit, Laurent thinks. He‘s truly fucked.

And he hates this stranger for it.

I‘d literally pay someone to write this

Edit: I forgot to add that, of course, Nikandros is that friend who‘s with Damen at the audition because since Kastor has stolen his brother’s fiancée, Nik is every family he has (he was long before, but he wouldn’t speak that out loud). He has tears in his eyes when Damen performs because yes, he loves that bitch of a man, but then he notices how that goddamn bitch of a man smiles at the blonde juror, Laurent, the cold one with the sharp tongue, and of course Damen decides to be in his team. Looks like it’s time for kink shaming again. Nikandors feels a headache coming.

[justanotherdaylikeanyother-blog1]

Just imagining Laurent and Damen engaging in some spy vs. spy shenanigans. 

Damen would be all Mission-Impossible-style with a whole team supporting him (and trying desperately to keep him in line when he wants to take stupid risks). He’d be leaning half his body out a car window shooting people with pinpoint accuracy even while the vehicle is mid-flip, free climbing up the sides of hundred-storey buildings like no one’s going to look out and notice there’s some massive beefcake crawling up their glass, and getting blown thirty feet in the air by explosions then just picking himself up and walking away without a scratch like nothing even happened. Because that’s how he do. 

Meanwhile, Laurent would be the guy who always insists on working solo. He would somehow manage to bullshit his way through to getting what he wants without even seeming to try (though in reality it would only seem effortless because Laurent would spend endless hours figuring out the logistics of every possibility so he doesn’t have to rely on the kind of ridiculous improvisations that keep Damen’s team alive on a daily basis). Sometimes Laurent would still do stuff like running over the rooftops away from people who are shooting at him, but just because he likes the adrenaline rush, not because he ever actually has to resort to that to get away.

If Laurent and Damen were going for the same item/intel/whatever spies have to steal, Laurent would just stroll casually into the supposedly impossible-to-penetrate secure room, look up at Damen dangling precariously from the ceiling, and be like ‘how is that tiny wire even holding you up, you giant animal?’ while he swipes what they’re both after right out from under Damen and saunters away, literally leaving Damen hanging. And then Laurent would set off the alarms on his way out the door so that Damen nearly gets caught, just for the hell of it. 

And poor Nikandros would spend half his life sighing at Damen through his super-spy earpiece, being like ‘Damn it, Damen, your life and the fate of the free world are in the balance here, do you really think this is the best time to waste precious seconds staring at his ass while he walks away?’

[xnikandrosx]

All this violence was beneath him, the fighting, the bloodshed. It was messy but necessary when the will of the Dark One himself had affixed His gaze upon the Queendom. The more promising prospect lay beyond the Spine - the Aetherians had turned the darkspawn toward Lysara, likely because they could not handle it themselves. If the magisters did not seek the Light, then the Dark One would find them first.

Eivor approached, bloodsoaked and victorious before he seized upon Nikandros. Noncommitally, Nikandros responded characteristically, "In these troubling times, nothing sets my heart ablaze like the death of darkspawn." The nights were long, dark, and troubling. From every corner of the field, the creatures pressed, digging in underneath them, waiting to undoubtedly emerge as they had in Nornwatch. "You're enjoying yourself," Nikandros commented as he removed Eivor's hand and grimaced at the besmirched state of his otherwise impeccable armor. The city would be lost soon, but if nothing else more would flock toward the Light. To him.

Eivor had spent a great deal of time elsewhere lately, distractions are what Nikandros would've labeled them as were they anyone else. But his friend had suffered enough to warrant a few fleeting moments of solace. "You fight harder today, has someone given you cause?" Affection was a rare feeling from Eivor, so when it wove its way through their bond, Nikandros noticed.

@xnikandrosx Location: Aventia

The dawn will come.

The night is long, And the path is dark. Look to the sky, For one day soon, The dawn will come.

The words echoed in Eivor's mind as his sword cleaved yet another darkspawn in half. Aventia had been one of the first places that the Dark One had finally appeared. Well – not physically, but the presence of his minions were enough to send the Vanguard north.

Haven't you preached that enough? The thought was pushed back to Nik's mind, Eivor currently in the fray while the other watched from afar. This was how they worked, the presence of the other a steady thrum in the Elvhen's chest. They shared thoughts, feelings, emotions – there was never a place that Eivor could go where he wouldn't rely on Nik.

The Elvhen could feel the magic from the Olympians, from the other Elvhen, causing the Vanguard to glow. Lightning crackled along his hands, the conduit of the telperion and the metal from his sword sending it shooting in all directions as his body finally released the magic that had built up. Lightning shot through an Ogre's chest, a large boulder that it held crushing the darkspawn beneath it. Eivor let out the breath he'd been holding, his body shaking with the effort of his fight. His sword was covered in blood and sinew, the mess of darkspawn littered around him. The dawn had broken through the clouds, the battle ebbing now. Covered in blood, Eivor dragged his sword upon the ground for a moment, finally sheathing it. His body still glowed, pent up rage in his mind as he eyed the large, magical barrier in the distance.

Entering through the gates of Aventia, his body automatically moved in the direction of Nik, bloodied glove ready to ruin the other's white armor as he gripped it, leaning his head forward to be closer to the other, "Enjoy the show?" Pride bloomed in his chest, as it always did – there was nothing better than being a showoff.